FAA confirms numbers on found ID match Fossett's

Oct. 1, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Mammoth Lakes police Investigator Crystal Schafer confirmed that the department had a Federal Aviation Administration identity card, a pilot’s license, a third ID and $1,005 in cash discovered by a hiker on Monday.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said the agency was sent a picture of the pilot license, and “the number on that document in the photograph matches the number for Fossett’s pilot certificate that we have in the FAA database.”

“We’re trying to determine the authenticity of the document,” Gregor said.

Search teams led by the Madera County Sheriff’s Department have been dispatched to the scene, and an air and ground effort was expected to be under way by afternoon, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Erica Stuart.

Morrow said he found no sign of a plane or any human remains.

Michael LoVallo, a lawyer for Fossett’s widow, Peggy, said, “We are aware of the reports and are trying to verify the information.”

Aviators had flown over Mammoth Lakes in the search for Fossett, but it had not been considered a likely place to find the plane. The most intense searching was concentrated to the north, given what searchers knew about sightings of Fossett’s plane, his plans for when he had intended to return and the amount of fuel he had in the plane.

Mammoth Lakes is at an elevation of more than 7,800 feet on the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada, where peaks top 13,000 feet. This year’s biggest search for Fossett focused on Nevada’s Wassuk Range, more than 50 miles north of Mammoth Lakes. That search ended last month.

Undersheriff Joe Sanford of Lyon County, Nev., which was involved in the initial search for Fossett, said the California Civil Air Patrol and private planes from Hilton’s ranch previously had flown over the area, but it was “extremely rough country.”

One of Fossett’s friends reacted to Wednesday’s news with cautious optimism.

"If the belongings turn out to be authentic, then that could help narrow the search area for possible wreckage, said Ray Arvidson, a scientist at Washington University who worked on Fossett’s past balloon flights. “It would be nice to get closure,” Arvidson said.